Blessed with breathtaking natural beauty, Mangalore sports the sea shore of Arabian Sea to the west coast of the country. On traditional front, Mangalore is a port-based economy. It handles more than three-fourth of India's coffee exports and pioneers in agricultural processing. The naturally rich city produces and exports bulk of cashew nut while the industry of furniture is also a flourishing one and employs a large part of population of the city.

Located at 357 kilometers west of the software hub of India Bangalore, Mangalore is seen as the next destination of IT and IT enabled Services (ITeS) companies.

As per the report of international property research agency Jones Lang LaSalle, the real estate prices in software destinations of Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai have saturated, it is time for a real estate boom at Tier-III city like Mangalore as more and more technology firms look out for the new business centers near the existing IT hubs.

Current Real Estate Scenario

The real estate market of Mangalore is also set to meet the demands of its international clients wanting to establish their offices in the city, to leverage the opportunity of the forthcoming boom.

Meanwhile, a whole lot of development is going on to bring the basic infrastructure of roads and power at par with the requirements of corporate giants. An Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded project of Rs 350 crore have been going on to enhance the water supply and drainage system in the city.

The biggest advantage that Mangalore real estate markets offer, is cost. As per industry reports, the cost of operating a business from Mangalore is less than half of what is incurred at Bangalore or Hyderabad. Take land prices, for instance, that start from Rs 35,000 per square yard at these places hover at Rs 5,000-Rs 8,000 at Mangalore. Perhaps that's the reason a flurry of companies are cooking plans to enter Mangalore.

Presence of Infosys, which is running its call centre from Mangalore, has already issued testimony for Mangalore's commercial potential as of now. Wipro has also planned to launch its operations from the city. Real estate developers and dealers of Mangalore are all the way happy as regular enquiries for office spaces by prestigious companies from the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and ITeS segment keep pouring day in and day out.

As far as projects that would catalyze the real estate growth in Mangalore are concerned, three IT parks at Ganjimutt, Thumbe and near Mangalore University are underway. Each park will be spread in area of as much as 2-million square feet. City's biggest project would come from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). The company plans to pump in Rs 35,000 crore in its new 15 million ton petrochemical plant and refinery.

However, what is more appreciable is that despite receiving such good response, prices of both residential and commercial properties in Mangalore have remained out of speculation. A moderate 10-25 per cent hike is recorded in the property prices in the past 12 months in the city while several construction projects are underway at Gandhi Nagar, Falnir and Kodialbali.

Professionals and employees of software companies are reportedly buying residential properties in Mangalore owing to its proximity to Bangalore and hassle-free city life. After all, this lush green city is also a popular tourist destination, flocked by people from all parts of the country. Demand for service apartments in Mangalore is also on rise as both professionals and tourists keep coming to the city.